2.23.2017

This will be my second to last post about volunteering in Greece; I had called end of mission last week in Samos, Greece. The gaps that the volunteers had responded to are covered now by the NGO’s and GO’s or a very miniscule. As I scroll through my social-media feeds I see many volunteers with whom I worked next to have started doing the same. The Greek Refugee Crisis had seen an immense number of volunteers answering the pleas for help, and we came in force. Now the emergency is over; yet there are more emergencies throughout the rest of the world. Those who volunteered here can never forget what happened here, and with newly opened eyes, have begun to seek other regions where help is needed.

This past winter I was sent to different islands, and returned to the states, without ever seeing mission accomplishment. As I embark on the next chapter, the mission in Greece and my mission with Samos Volunteers is over. Across Greece the GO’s and NGO’s are taking control and fulfilling their mandates. Samos Volunteers will no longer distribute clothing or hygiene as of 24 February. We began as a solidarity group in 2015 when there were 4000 arrivals a day, now we have had less than 4000 arrivals since the Turkey/EU deal on 20 March 2016.

Samos Volunteers will continue in psycho-social activities to enhance, empower, and to educate. As the group steps back from providing clothing and hygiene items, this will allow more concentration on schooling and activities. Currently the education positively affects 150+ people, as well as our recreation activities. The need here for Samos Volunteers is educators, those with the gift to teach and work with children, idealists, and dreamers. I am not a teacher, but rather logistically-minded and my skills are best utilized in emergency response. I look forward to seeing what Samos Volunteers will do; please continue to support and follow them either on the web page SamosVolunteers.org or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/samosvolunteers/

This morning I was working in distribution in the camp, and I was able to observe the dynamics of needs. Last week we had finished our individual assessments of clothing needs of everyone in the camp and were able to provide what items were needed. Everyone in the camp has 2-4 sets of clothing, besides what they came to Samos with. This week we focused on camp-wide mass distributions of hygiene kits, solar and wind-up flashlights/torches, sandals, socks, and shampoo. As I supervised the distribution cabin and door, I noticed that very few people came for items. Less than 10 people came, which gave me one more realization that the needs here are filled.

We have done everything possible to set up the mandated government organization to take over distribution with success. We can easily transfer our distribution data, trained many of their staff in the distribution as to ensure people are treated with dignity, conducted mass distributions to soften the transition, and will ensure that they will have ample hygiene inventory to assist in their provisions of these items. The camp is at the lowest in numbers since this past summer with approximately 800 people, there have been no new arrivals in 2 weeks, and those who have come these past three months are few in number. Winter is over, so the emergency need of sufficient winter clothing is no longer an issue. The time is prime for the govrenment organizations to take over. Below is the email we sent to all of the actors on Samos, I will change the font to italics in order to discern between my post and the email.

Dear colleagues,

We would like to announce to you all the discontinuation of regular NFI distribution (clothes, shoes and hygiene items) in the RIC by Samos Volunteers.

Samos Volunteers are and have been the main provider of clothing, shoes and adult hygiene items in the RIC since April 2016, via an informal partnership with Medin. The purpose of this partnership was to cover some of the basic needs of the POCs, as at the time, no other organisation was capable or willing to provide these services.

However, over the last few weeks we have not had any new arrivals, and relatively few arrivals in fact since last November. We concur that the clothing needs of those already residing in the RIC have been met. Through our efforts, most people have received between 2-4 sets of clothing, and over the winter months, we carried out several large-scale distributions to ensure that everyone received additional clothing to keep them warm. We have become a permanent and daily distributor of clothing and hygiene items in the camp, while our initial purpose was only to cover the urgent needs of the people.

Right now, we feel there is no longer an emergency situation requiring the daily distribution of NFIs by Samos Volunteers. With the winter coming to an end, a significant decrease in the population of the RIC due to transfers to the mainland, and an increase in those being hosted in alternative accommodation, we see that our role as distributors of NFIs should dissolve and be passed on to those mandated to cover these needs. This will enable Samos Volunteers to focus and expand on our activities which will benefit the refugee community on Samos through psycho-social support: namely informal education and recreational activities. Currently, over 150 people are directly benefitting from our psycho-social activities, which range from language classes, football and creative workshops.

We are willing to pass on the good practices which we have developed over time in relation to the distribution of NFIs, and can continue on an advisory basis where needed. Over the last several months, Samos Volunteers have been assigned several municipality staff who have been supporting our regular distributions. We have ensured that they were thoroughly involved in the entire process in order to understand the complexity of the distribution system so that they could potentially run the distributions themselves. Given the circumstances, we will coordinate with them and advise them to focus on hygiene distribution (in which there are currently no stock shortages) and to only provide clothes in emergency situations or to replace worn or broken items.

We will continue with the daily distribution of Chai tea in the camp (an operation funded by the UNHCR/SP). This has been extremely successful, and it is these kinds of activities which have a hugely positive effect on the daily lives of the inhabitants of the RIC. Additionally, we will continue to be an emergency response team for new arrivals who regularly arrive wet on the island and need dry sets of clothes and shoes.

This week we have 3 mass distributions that we are going to carry out: shampoo, hygiene kits (soap, body cream, deodorant, 2 x face towels), and sandals, hijabs and socks. We feel that following this, the needs of the people residing in the RIC will be largely met which should take some pressure off of the transitional period. We will therefore stop NFI distribution on Friday 24th Feb.

For everyone who donated, volunteered, and/or raised awareness I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Together we have made immense changes and had a positive impact. I will miss Greece, especially Samos which has been my home for almost a year. There are more needs elsewhere in the world, but I will return to visit and see what Samos Volunteers will continue to do. Perhaps I should write a book on my Greek volunteering experience, but time to write is a luxury I am deficit of.

I will continue to post updates, but this time the environment and needs will change. Please continue to follow my blog or Facebook (Andrew Ainarf), the next journey is about to begin and I hope that you will be a part of it.